H.C. HALE, 15th Infantry, G.S.
Captain C.H. MUIR, 2d Infantry, G.S.
Captain FRANK MCINTYRE, 19th Infantry, G.S.
Captain D.E. NOLAN, 30th Infantry, G.S.

THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT.

BY CAPTAIN E.D. SWINTON, D.S.O., R.E.--(BACKSIGHT FORETHOUGHT.)

BY PERMISSION.

PROLOGUE.

Upon an evening after a long and tiring trek, I arrived at Dreamdorp.
The local atmosphere, combined with a heavy meal, are responsible for
the following nightmare, consisting of a series of dreams. To make the
sequence of the whole intelligible, it is necessary to explain that,
though the scene of each vision was the same, yet by some curious
mental process I had no recollection of the place whatsoever. In each
dream the locality was totally new to me, and I had an entirely fresh
detachment. Thus I had not the great advantage of working over
familiar ground. One thing, and one only, was carried on from dream to
dream, and that was the vivid recollection of the general lessons
previously learnt. These finally produced success.

The whole series of dreams, however, remained in my memory as a
connected whole when I awoke.

FIRST DREAM.

"Any fool can get into a hole."--_Old Chinese proverb._

"If left to you, for defence make spades."--_Bridge Maxim._

I felt lonely, and not a little sad, as I stood on the bank of the
river near Duffer's Drift and watched the red dust haze, raised by the
southward departing column in the distance, turn slowly into gold as
it hung in the afternoon sunlight. It was just three o'clock, and here
I was on the banks of the Silliaasvogel river, left behind by my
column with a party of fifty N.C.O.'s and men to hold the drift. It
was an important ford, because it was the only one across which
wheeled traffic could pass for some miles up or down the river.

[Illustration: MAP OF DUFFER'S DRIFT.]

The river was a sluggish stream, not now in flood, crawling along at
the very bottom of its bed between steep banks which were almost
vertical, or at any rate too steep for wagons everywhere except at the
drift itself. The banks from the river edge to their tops and some
distance outwards were covered with dense thorn and other bushes,
which formed a screen impenetrable to the sight. They were also broken
by small ravines and holes, where the earth had been eaten away by the
river when in flood, and were consequently very rough.

Some two thousand odd yards north of the drift was a flat-toppe